Don't expect to see Stewart-Haas drivers in F1 car

Now that her car owner has a Formula One team, could Danica Patrick ever race in the worldwide racing series? Gene Haas doesn't think so. Nothing against Patrick, he just doesn't think any of his NASCAR drivers could jump in a car for Haas Formula, a new F1 team that will begin fielding two cars in 2015 or 2016, and succeed. Haas actually has three drivers with IndyCar experience in his NASCAR stable. Tony Stewart was the 1997 IndyCar championship, Patrick spent seven years on the circuit and Kurt Busch is competing in the Indianapolis 500 this year after completing rookie orientation last year. But Haas isn't looking from within for a future F1 driver. "I'd certainly never expect any of our current lineup of drivers to want to be able to do that," Haas said during a news conference Monday. "It would be really impossible to accomplish that and survive. ... Just the thought of jumping into a Formula One car from a Cup car would be very, very difficult." Haas said the cars are so different, that Formula One drivers would have a difficult time competing in NASCAR. And he certainly doesn’t think a NASCAR driver could just get into a Formula One car without much preparation. “Those guys are working every weekend, and I don’t see how you can be in NASCAR and also be in Formula One,” Haas said. “Formula One has half the races, but the technical expertise of going to the races is just very, very demanding. “What intimidates me the most is the steering wheel. In a Cup car, you have got a round wheel with a button on it. In a Formula One car, you’ve got buttons on the front, on the side, in the back. They’ve got eight paddle shifters. You don’t learn that in a day.”(Sporting News)